Chocolate Tiffin

Lets all start by pretending that we've maintained giving up chocolate for lent.

If you have, you're a braver person than I. And, if you haven't then yes my friend, this recipe is for you. Another one of those simple ones, no baking and very versatile. I unashamedly LOVE Costa's tiffins, so much so I've always meant to recreate them myself at home.

Its taken until now to make them...whilst I'm still off chocolate until the end of the week *ahem*. But now its been ticked off my recipe list, these tiffins will be a regular feature in my week. I'm so excited to throw everything in my cupboard at them next time.

C H O C O L A T E   T I F F I N
(Recipe from Mcvitie's, serves 12)

250g chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

200g unsalted butter

2tbsp golden syrup

150g roasted shelled hazelnuts, chopped

200g Mcvitie's Digestives, roughly chopped

150g sultanas

75g white chocolate

• Grease and line a 20cm square tin with baking paper or cling film.
• In a bowl over a pan of barley simmering water, melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter. Stir to combine.
• Remove the bowl from the heat and add the hazelnuts, digestives and sultanas and fold together.
• Pour into the prepared tin and press down firmly into each corner.
• Melt the white chocolate in the same way as the dark chocolate. Drizzle or swirl over the tiffin to finish. Leave to set in the fridge before serving.

Thanks to the fabulous McVities for sending me the ingredients to cheer up my week! 

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McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Truffles

There is no limit to the ways in which I'll justify the use of a biscuit. I love them so much that they're a very close runner up to my beloved brownies. Of course homemade biscuits are lovely, but did you know just how many ways there are to elevate regular shop bought ones? Its a lot.

We're not talking regular biscuit bases for cheesecakes, we're talking cakes, tiffins and my personal favourite, truffles.

 Yes, you can absolutely use the humble Digestive in truffles and yes, it tastes even better than you can imagine.

McVities sent me a stash of biscuits, some of which I may have eaten as a warm up, and some chocolate in order to make these truffles which have rapidly shot up my list of go-to recipes.

M C V I T I E S   C H O C O L A T E   D I G E S T I V E   T R U F F L E S
(Makes 20 regular sized truffles, scale up or down as required)

150ml double cream

250g dark chocolate, chopped

125g unsalted butter

15 McVitie's Digestives (around half a large pack)

150g chocolate spread

150g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

1. To start, make a chocolate ganache base for the centre by gently heating the cream over a low heat in a small pan. You don't need to boil or simmer the cream, just heat it until you can only hold a fingertip in the cream for a few seconds.
2. Remove from the heat and add in the dark chocolate and butter, continually stirring until fully melted. Add the chocolate spread and mix again until well combined.
3. Allow the mixture to cool down a little whilst blitzing the biscuits in a food processor or smashing in a sandwich bag with a rolling pin. You'll need something that resembles breadcrumbs or finer. 
4. Add the crushed biscuits into the chocolate and stir well until everything is well coated. Chill this in the fridge for an hour to firm up.
5. Line a tray or large plate with baking paper and use a teaspoons worth of mixture to roll into truffle shapes by hand. If the mix starts to become too soft to work with then pop it back in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill again.
6. Place the truffles in the fridge once rolled to firm up again.
7. Meanwhile, over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the white chocolate (or use 150g of milk chocolate if you'd prefer).
8. To cover the truffles, remove from the fridge and use a skewer to dip them into the melted chocolate. Place onto the prepared tray and allow them to set a little, around 5-10 minutes.
9. Melt the milk chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water also and pour into a piping bag or sandwich bag with the corner chopped to drizzle over the tops of the truffles.

I think these truffles are perfect served just from the fridge, but wherever you store them just ensure to keep them cool and they'll last up to a week.

These truffles aren't the speediest of things to make but you don't need to be Willy Wonka either. I made them over two days where I made the centres and left them overnight to firm up then covered them the next day. 

Thanks to my biscuity pals McVities for sending me a stash of chocolate!

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Recipe: McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Cake for National Chocolate Week

Its National Chocolate Week everyone!

There's only a few wagons I'll jump on when it comes to national 'this' day and national 'that'. But chocolate? Absolutely, yes please!

This chocolate digestive cake is the perfect no-bake recipe to make after work. Leave it to set in the fridge and it'll be ready to take into the office in the morning if you're looking for extra brownie points. Failing that, it will set in less than an hour so you can have it for dinner. Because being an 'adult' means that I get to make the choices for dinner and chocolate for dinner will make my soul happy!

McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Cake

(Recipe from McVitie's, makes a 1lb loaf to serve 8)

200g Mcvitie's Digestive biscuits

110g whole pecans, roughly chopped

110g pistachio nuts, peeled

150g unsalted butter

1tbsp golden syrup

300g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)

1. In a small bowl, break half the biscuits into small pieces. Add most of the nuts, leaving some behind for garnishing the top of the cake.
2. Melt the butter, golden syrup and chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of barely simmering water to melt. When fully melted and smooth, add the nuts and biscuits and mix.
3. Use cling film to line a 1lb loaf tin, leaving enough round the edges to pull the cake out once set.
4. Halve the remaining biscuits and place a layer in the bottom of the tin. Alternate between layers of chocolate and biscuits. Slowly pour any remaining chocolate over the top.
5. Use a sheet of greaseproof paper to cover and push down the mix firmly into the tin.
6. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top and leave to set in the fridge for around an hour to firm.
7. Remove from the tin using surplus cling film and slice to serve.

There's so many variations you could make on this recipe, change the biscuits, the chocolate and nuts to whatever you've got lurking in your cupboards.

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